JPH0624849Y2 - Cleaning blade structure - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Industrial Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an improvement in the structure of a cleaning blade that is pressed against a photoconductor of a copying machine.

2. Description of the Related Art As a typical method for cleaning the surface of a photoconductor of a copying machine, there are a fur brush cleaning method using a fur brush and a blade cleaning method using a rubber plate. The blade cleaning method is widely used because it can reduce the size and cost of the apparatus as compared with the fur brush cleaning method.

The material of the cleaning blade used in the blade cleaning method is often urethane rubber having excellent pressure resistance and abrasion resistance, and in order to scrape off the residual toner electrostatically adhering to the surface of the photoconductor, the surface of the photoconductor is removed. It is strongly pressed in a bent state. Therefore, the frictional resistance between the cleaning blade and the photoconductor is also large, and sometimes, both ends of the pressure contact portion of the cleaning blade to the photoconductor follow the movement of the photoconductor in a state of being in close contact with the photoconductor, and the phenomenon of reversal occurs. Occurs. This reversal phenomenon does not occur from the central portion of the cleaning blade, but inevitably occurs from both ends of the portion where the cleaning blade is pressed against the photosensitive member. Then, as the reversal phenomenon progresses, it finally reaches the entire cleaning blade.

Then, a problem of poor cleaning occurs, and further, a problem of scratching the surface of the photoconductor due to strong frictional resistance at this time occurs.

Therefore, conventionally, in order to prevent the reversal phenomenon of the cleaning blade, when a cleaning device equipped with the cleaning blade is attached to the photoconductor, it is used as a powder lubricant (for example, vinylidene fluoride resin) or its copying machine. It has been common to apply the powdered toner applied between the cleaning blade and the photosensitive member in advance. However, the above method has a problem that the life of the effect is short despite the troublesome processing, and the inspection work must be regularly performed to apply the lubricant or the like.

The present invention was devised in view of the above circumstances, and prevents the reversal phenomenon of both ends of the cleaning blade press-contacting portion to the photosensitive member when the cleaning blade press-contacts the photosensitive member. It is an object of the present invention to provide a simple and inexpensive cleaning blade structure.

In order to achieve the above object, the main means adopted by the present invention is the gist of the present invention, in the structure of the cleaning blade for scraping off the residual toner by being pressed against the surface of the photoconductor, The cleaning blade has a structure in which tapes having a friction coefficient lower than that of other portions are attached to both ends of the pressure-contacting portion with respect to the photoconductor.

Embodiments Embodiments embodying the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings to provide an understanding of the present invention.

It should be noted that the following embodiments are examples of embodying the present invention and are not of the nature to limit the technical scope of the present invention.

1 is a schematic side view of a copying section having a cleaning blade according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a state in which the cleaning blade in FIG. 1 is attached to a blade fixing jig. FIG. 3 is a plan view taken along arrow C in FIG. 1, and FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing a cleaning blade according to another embodiment of the present invention attached to a blade fixing jig.

In FIG. 1, an image of an original document (not shown) placed on the upper surface of the original table passes through a mirror and a lens (not shown), and is indicated by an arrow 2 on the surface of the photoconductor 2 charged by the discharge action of the main charger 1. ′ Near the tip, it is optically projected to form a latent image. The latent image is developed with toner adhered in the developing unit 3 and becomes a visible state. This visible toner image (not shown) rides on the outer peripheral surface of the photoconductor 2 and moves in the direction of arrow 4.

On the other hand, the transfer paper 5 is transferred to the photosensitive member 2 by the conveying rollers 6 and 6 '.
Is transferred to contact the surface of the. At this time, the visible toner image is transferred onto the transfer paper 5 by the discharge action of the transfer charger 7. After the transfer is completed, the transfer paper 5 has its static electricity removed by the discharging action of the separation charger 8 and is peeled off from the surface of the photoconductor 2 by the peeling claw 9. After that, the transfer paper 5 on which the visible toner image is attached is placed on the transport unit 10 and transferred to a fixing device (not shown), and is fixed by pressure heat.

On the other hand, the photoreceptor 2 after transferring the visible toner image onto the transfer paper 5
Further rotates in the direction of arrow 4, and moves to the cleaning device A installation portion in order to remove the toner remaining on the surface of the photoconductor 2. Therefore, the toner remaining on the surface of the photoconductor 2 is
First, auxiliary cleaning is performed by the fur brush 11. After that, the photoconductor 2 further rotates in the direction of arrow 4,
The residual toner is completely scraped off by the cleaning blade B of the present invention and discharged by the screw 12.

After that, the photoconductor 2 further rotates in the direction of the arrow 4, receives the light irradiation of the quenching lamp 13, the potential remaining on the photoconductor 2 after cleaning is removed, and the process proceeds to the next copying step.

As described above, the cleaning blade B of the present invention is
It acts in the process of removing the residual toner on the surface of the photoconductor 2 after the transfer.

As shown in the figure, the cleaning blade B held by the blade fixing jig 14 is fixed to the blade mounting plate 16 having the square shaft 15 with screws 17.

The pressure contact force when the cleaning blade B is pressed against the photoconductor 2 is adjusted by rotating the blade mounting plate 16 about the axis of the rectangular shaft 15 in the direction of the arrow 18 and fixing it. .

As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the cleaning blade B used with the above-described structure has a urethane rubber plate 19 excellent in wear resistance and the urethane rubber plate 1 thereof.
9 is formed by a fluorine resin tape 20 that is attached so as to wrap around both ends of the pressure contact portion 9 of the photosensitive member 2 to the photosensitive member 2.
The attachment interval dimension L of the fluorine resin tape 20 is larger than the maximum image width dimension on the surface of the photoconductor 2.

In the cleaning blade B having the above-described structure, since the fluorine resin tape 20 having a smaller friction coefficient than urethane rubber is adhered to both ends of the pressure contact portion of the cleaning blade B to the photosensitive member 2, the both ends of the pressure contact portion and the photosensitive member 2 are adhered. The coefficient of friction between the two becomes extremely low.

Therefore, even if the cleaning blade B is pressed against the photoconductor 2 and used for cleaning the residual toner, the phenomenon that the both ends of the press contact portion follow the movement of the photoconductor 2 and is not reversed further does not occur.

According to the experimental results, when the thickness of the fluorine resin tape 20 is set to 0.13 mm, the life of the urethane rubber plate 19 used for the cleaning blade B is about 20,000 to
It was possible to prevent the inversion phenomenon up to the number of copying of 50,000 times. The cleaning blade B in this embodiment is constructed by directly sticking the fluorine resin tape 20 on the surface of the urethane rubber plate 19, but as shown in FIG. 2 At both ends of the pressure contact portion to the surface, step processing of the thickness dimension of the fluorine resin tape 20 is performed in advance, and the fluorine resin tape 20 is attached to that portion, whereby the urethane rubber plate 1
It is also possible to have a smooth structure on the 9th surface.

Further, in the present embodiment, the fluorine resin tape is used as an example of the material forming the portion having a low friction coefficient, but it is also possible to use a Teflon resin tape or a polyester tape instead of the fluorine resin tape. Is.

As described above, in the present invention, in the structure of the cleaning blade that is pressed against the surface of the photoconductor to scrape off the residual toner, the both ends of the part where the cleaning blade is pressed against the photoconductor have more friction than other parts. Since the structure of the cleaning blade is characterized by sticking a tape with a low coefficient, the structure is simple and inexpensive, and both ends of the pressure contact portion of the cleaning blade to the photoconductor are in close contact with the photoconductor. The phenomenon of following the movement of the photoconductor and reversing does not occur. Then, as a secondary effect, there is no inconvenience that the pressure contact force of the cleaning blade with respect to the surface of the photoconductor is increased, and the problem of cleaning failure due to the reversal phenomenon does not occur. There is no problem of scratching.

Further, the life of the effect of preventing the reversal phenomenon can be lengthened because the pressure contact force of the cleaning blade with respect to the photosensitive member can be made relatively small and the friction coefficient is low, and maintenance and inspection work conventionally required are unnecessary. It will be.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic side view of a copying section having a cleaning blade according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a state in which the cleaning blade shown in FIG. 1 is attached to a blade fixing jig, and FIG. FIG. 4 is a plan view seen from the arrow C in FIG. 1, and FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing a state in which a cleaning blade according to another embodiment of the present invention is attached to a blade fixing jig. (Explanation of symbols) 19, 19 '... Urethane rubber plate 20 ... Fluorine resin tape B, B' ... Cleaning blade.

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] 1. In a structure of a cleaning blade for scraping off residual toner by being pressed against a surface of a photosensitive member, a tape having a friction coefficient lower than that of other parts is attached to both ends of a portion of the cleaning blade pressed against the photosensitive member. The structure of the cleaning blade characterized by the above.